State guide

Advance Directive Forms in North Carolina

By Jason Su · Sources last confirmed September 10

What this document does

An advance directive is where you write down the healthcare treatment you would and would not want if you could not speak for yourself. In most states it also names a healthcare agent — the person who speaks for you when you cannot.

Where to get the North Carolina form

North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State publishes the current form here: https://sosnc.gov/forms/by_title/_advance_healthcare_directives

North Carolina publishes a statutory Health Care Power of Attorney form and a separate living will declaration. The Secretary of State also offers an optional registry for a small filing fee.

North Carolina's optional registry is the unusual part

The document side of North Carolina is conventional. The state publishes a statutory Health Care Power of Attorney and a separate Living Will Declaration, both maintained by the Department of the Secretary of State. Use them as printed and they do what you expect.

The unusual part is what comes after. The Secretary of State runs an Advance Health Care Directive Registry, where you can file a copy of your documents for a small fee. Once filed, your paperwork can be retrieved by a hospital or physician who needs it, without anyone having to find the originals first.

Should you use it? It is optional, and many North Carolina residents simply hand copies to their agent and their doctor. But it solves one specific problem unusually well: the case where you are away from home, or you end up in a hospital that has never seen you before, and nobody present has your paperwork. A registry entry is reachable when a photocopy in a kitchen drawer is not.

Treat the registry as a backstop rather than a plan. The filing fee does not replace handing copies to your agent and your doctor — the people who need to act quickly should already have the document in hand, not have to request it.

National resources

• USA.gov — Official U.S. government portal.
• Medicare.gov — Official Medicare information.

After you sign it

1. Sign it the way North Carolina requires. Many states need witnesses or a notary. The form itself says which — follow the form, not a blog.
2. Give copies to your healthcare agent and your doctor. A form nobody can find is a form that does not work.
3. Keep the original somewhere reachable — not locked in a safe deposit box that needs a bank visit during an emergency.
4. Add it to your checklist so your trusted contact knows it exists and where it lives.

Frequently asked

Next: build your checklist and record where this form is kept.